family, travel, writing

March 2010

We’re in the one month countdown to official baby time, and possibly less if she arrives early. Ready? I’m ready for maternity leave, but still have almost three weeks of work left. Prepared? More or less. We have the car seat back from friends, and the cover’s washed, it’s just not in the car yet.

We set up the crib, but not yet the Pack ‘n Play in our room where she’ll be sleeping for the first many months. We have gear, we have clothes, and we even have one small pack of newborn diapers. I’m expecting a nine-pound baby, which would mean moving onto the next size pretty soon anyway.

I’m not kidding about the nine-pound baby, either. Melina was over eight, and according to my doc (and anecdotal evidence) second children are usually born larger. She also said there’s some evidence to show that birth weight follows trends of the father’s side.

Joey was over nine pounds, his brother almost ten, and his nephew over ten at birth. I’m also close to five pounds ahead of where I was with Melina in the final month. So part of it is wishful thinking: The more weight that’s baby, the less I’ll have to lose post-partum.

Today, a fellow parent at Melina’s preschool relayed this conversation between the two of them. Parent: Is the baby here yet? Mina: “Yes.” How exciting. Is it a boy or a girl? “Girl.” What’s her name? “Pink.” As the parent pointed out, to Melina being inside my belly probably means the baby is in fact “here,” which only makes me wonder how she’ll react when the baby really is “here” for the rest of us.

What’s funny about the name is that she now knows – and remembers – baby’s real name. Well, she drops the “N” at the beginning but has the rest down. In fact she gave it away to Kai when we hesitated telling him last week (only because Kai has a very hard time keeping a secret). And when I asked her to tell Grandma baby’s “real” name she did. But when anyone else asks her, she says “Pink.” Does the girl really get how to keep a secret?

To celebrate the soon-arrival of our littlest family member, we had a friend of a friend take some belly (and family) photos last week. With a two-year-old in the mix, Myron pretty much just followed us around the house and yard for an hour, though did try to pose a few shots here and there. We couldn’t be happier with the results, and can’t wait for Baby N to make her screaming, squirmy debut.

She’s kicking up a storm inside my belly and Joey keeps saying “Stay inside a little longer!” But I predict she’ll follow the path of her big sis and arrive a day or two late. We’ll know in a month!